Oscar Nominees Guneet Monga Kapoor, Adam J. Graves on ‘Anuja’: ‘The Honesty Travels Through’

variety.com:

Naman Ramachandran Philosophy professor-turned-filmmaker Adam J. Graves never imagined his feature directorial debut would land on Netflix and garner an Oscar nomination.

But a Dairy Queen run during the pandemic changed everything. “We were coming home from Dairy Queen – it was the only place open – and I turned to my wife and said, ‘You know what, I’m going to make a movie,'” Graves tells Variety. “I thought she would just say forget it because it’s kind of crazy hairbrained.

We’ve got kids and financial responsibilities. But instead she was like, ‘Let’s do it.'” The result is “Anuja,” a 22-minute short about two sisters working in a back-alley garment factory.

The narrative follows the young protagonist as she faces a decision that will impact both her future and her family. The film has attracted heavyweight supporters including Mindy Kaling and Priyanka Chopra Jonas.